


Evil Tomatoes

by supremegreendragon



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Embarrassed Lloyd, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Kratos-always-wins, Language, crackish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:07:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22162294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supremegreendragon/pseuds/supremegreendragon
Summary: Lloyd gets tormented by Kratos acting like he's his father. Also tomatoes.
Relationships: Kratos Aurion & Lloyd Irving
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Evil Tomatoes

_“Be a good boy and go home,”_ the man had said. He even had the nerve to say those words right in front of Lloyd’s friends. Lloyd remembered how flustered he felt as he snuck a glance at their reactions. Genis had looked close to laughing, while Colette remained oblivious to Lloyd’s embarrassment. Lloyd’s face had been red hot. He had wanted to stab his sword right through Kratos for saying that. Yet even if he had been willing to attempt first degree murder, he knew that Kratos could overpower him in a heartbeat.

The most infuriating thing about Kratos was his superiority complex. He would always point out how young Lloyd was, as if he was nothing more than a toddler. He would ruffle his hair after Lloyd defeated a slime, with an almost condescending congratulations. He would urge Lloyd to follow his lead as they entered deeper into the tower, keeping him close to the hip. And after putting Lloyd though all that torment, in the end he still insisted the rest of the adventure was too dangerous for Lloyd to trek.

_“So, go home, Lloyd. Go home and be safe.”_ Who the hell did Kratos think he was?

Lloyd smirked when he got to join the adventure anyway. He remembered how Kratos’ eyes had darkened when he found out there was no other alternative. Lloyd got to tag along after all. After that, Lloyd assumed that the belittling treatment was finally over.

He was wrong. It was just the beginning. The day’s travel from Triet to Efreet’s symbol was pure torture --- not because of the heat, not because of the scorpions they fought along the way, but because Kratos was an insufferable jerk. Every ‘advice’ he gave sounded more like an order. And he only ever ordered Lloyd around.

“Lloyd, stop playing with your food,” Kratos said, glancing at him sharply from his side of the campfire. The night air was pleasantly cool in comparison to the scorching hot daylight they had earlier.

Gritting his teeth, Lloyd resisted the urge to sarcastically respond with something like ‘Ok, Dad.’ He was relieved that Raine and Genis weren’t paying attention. Colette sat beside Lloyd, dutifully eating her omelet and bread. If she knew what was going on, she pretended that she didn’t. Genis had been the one who cooked supper that night. The magic user put in lots of vegetables and cheese, then folded the eggs up into perfect semicircles.

There were also tomatoes inside. Lloyd hadn’t been playing with his food. He had been picking out the red fruit and shoving them to the side of his plate. Now a small mound of the disgusting diced tomatoes had formed far from the rest of his meal. He finally took a bite, instinctively looking up at Kratos to see his reaction. The older man scowled.

“Do you intend to waste perfectly good produce?”

Lloyd felt his eye twitching in annoyance. He tried to hold in his temper, “I don’t like tomatoes.”

“If you intend to keep the Chosen safe, then you need to keep your body properly fueled.”

Frowning, Lloyd looked at his plate, stubbornly refusing to meet the adult’s eyes. He tapped his fork, “Look at how much of the omelet is left! I’ll be plenty fueled.”

Kratos bit into his own food. From the look on his face, Lloyd could tell he was thinking of what to say next. The mercenary’s table manners were up to par with aristocrats. He even wiped himself with a napkin before speaking again.

“Sylvarant has been in decline for many years now. The mana has made it harder for people to get enough food—”

“—I know that!”

“—There are people starving, Lloyd. Now eat everything.”

Kratos’s words brought Lloyd’s mind to years earlier, when he was just five. He had been having the same discussion with his dad when Dirk finally said, “There are starving people in Luin. Now eat, boy!”

The kid version of Lloyd couldn’t win that argument. His little self had felt so bad that Dirk got him to eat everything on his plate. The line had been a dirty trick used against Lloyd for years. Fortunately, now he was old enough to think of a comeback for it.

“Then let’s give this food to the starving people. That will make everyone happy.”

Annoyance crossed Kratos’ face for only a second and Lloyd wondered if the expression had been there at all. Kratos kept unusually calm for an adult who had just been told to fuck off. Raine would’ve smacked Lloyd if he made such a retort to her.

The silence stretched on so long that Lloyd has assumed the discussion had been dropped entirely. But his hopes dashed away when Kratos spoke again.

“Just know this, soldiers as delicate as you are do not last long,” he murmured as if this was just nothing more than an observation. He didn’t even look at Lloyd.

Meanwhile, Lloyd was glaring daggers at the older man.

“What did you say?” he barked, causing Raine and Genis to look up. He didn’t care anymore.

“I’ve traveled with real soldiers before, Lloyd. In times so trying that we would have to resort to eating nothing but old monster bones. If you cannot handle eating perfectly good food, I doubt you can handle anything more difficult. I knew I was right. You should’ve stayed home.”

Kratos had found Lloyd’s weakness. Taking a jab at his masculinity. Lloyd wanted to prove himself so badly that he took a whole forkful of diced tomatoes and shoved it in his mouth. He forced himself not to gag. Genis’ eyes were almost as wide as his dinner plate. He had never seen Lloyd do something like this before.

Lloyd saw Kratos smile proudly. He refused to believe he was happy to have the man’s approval.


End file.
